The present invention relates to a shift lever apparatus for an automatic transmission combining an automatic transmission mode (A/T mode) and a manual transmission mode (M/T mode) of a vehicle.
Such a shift lever apparatus is operated in a manner that a particular gear shift mode is selected by a shift lever swingably moving in a front and rear direction. Japanese Unexamined (KOKAI) Patent Publications No. 7(1995)-32902, No. 7(1995)-32903, No. 7(1995)-32904 and No. 7(1995)-35224 disclose several shift lever apparatuses for automatic transmissions in which a change between the automatic shift mode and the manual shift mode can be easily and appropriately executed so that a driver feels a manual operation.
However, in such shift lever apparatuses for automatic transmissions, a stroke for swingably moving a shift lever in the front and rear direction in the M/T mode is usually shorter than a stroke for swingably moving a shift lever in the front and rear direction in the A/T mode. Therefore, this shorter stroke in the M/T mode gives the driver an uncomfortable operational feeling.
That is, if a shift lever 33 is swung sideways from an upright position around a longitudinal shaft 19, a position pin 27 is inclined with the shift lever 33 as shown in FIG. 7. The shift lever 33 can swing on a cylindrical shaft 14 in the front and rear direction of the vehicle in the A/T mode. The longitudinal shaft 19 extends along the front and rear direction and the cylindrical shaft 14 extends along a left and right direction. The position pin 27 passes through a slot 28. The slot 28 is formed at a lower part of a compression rod 34 inserted into the shift lever 33. In the inclined state, an end portion of the position pin 27 is out of a detent notch portion 54 and is inserted into a housing 11, while the other end of the position pin 27 is lowered without getting out of a detent notch portion 54 on the other side.
However, because the other end of the position pin 27 does not move downward beyond transmission steps 54a and 54b of an R range and an L range, a maximum stroke of the position pin 27 in the M/T mode is limited within a substantially same angle .alpha. in the front and rear direction around a D range, that is, a range between an N range and an S range, as shown in FIG. 8.
Therefore, a shift slot 23e for the M/T mode is shorter than a shift slot 23 for the A/T mode as shown in FIG. 9, and a swing stroke of the shift lever 33 in the M/T mode is short. The shift slots 23 and 23e are formed on an indicator 22. A reference numeral 11 denotes a base bracket mounting the indicator 22, a reference numeral 24 denotes a knob fixed at an upper part of the shift lever 33 and a reference numeral 38 denotes a push button movably installed on the knob.